MUMBAI: UK pubcaster BBC has announced new content initiatives with a focus on music broadcasting.

From big festivals to intimate studio sessions, the company aims to bring music alive for people whenever and wherever they want it. The digital drive this year will enable viewers and listeners to tune into major music events with a greater range and depth.

At Glastonbury, the fans will be able to choose from simultaneous live streams from all the major stages throughout the festival, allowing viewers to choose their favourite bands as if they were there.

BBC acting DG Tim Davie said, "Our ambition this year is to offer music fans unprecedented coverage of live music. On desktop, mobile, tablet and connected TVs, we will bring BBC audiences closer to the music they love by offering a full performance or fesival-goer experience for those who can?t be there."

The fans will also be offered comprehensive mobile coverage. According to the company, the shift to mobile coverage is being driven by audience demand.

Additionally, this year there will be developments on iPlayer Radio to give audiences a more in-depth, social and personal music experience.

Radio 1?s flagship event, The Big Weekend, will return in May, heading to Londonderry-Derry and will be extended to three days for 2013. It will kick off on 24 May.

BBC?s Musicians Masterclass is in its third year and will take place on 21 March this year. The event supports unsigned and undiscovered artists by offering learning, advice, access and insights from high profile musicians and industry professionals. This is the first time the Masterclass will be a nationwide event.
 
On television on BBC Two, Sir John Eliot Gardiner will present ?The Genius Of Bach?, a 90-minute music documentary revealing his life?s research into the great composer. The documentary will present a perspective on J.S. Bach, delving into his life and music with the help of performances from the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists.

Throughout the year, BBC Four will broadcast new documentaries on Verdi and Wagner as part of the BBC?s wider anniversary programming which features Radio 3, as the home of classical music, broadcasting for the first time every opera by Wagner, Verdi and Britten during their anniversary years.

BBC Four is planning a season of new programmes on world music with a documentary on its history and culture as its centrepiece. The season will also feature a programme on flamenco music.

BBC Two will be broadcasting a major music series later in the year, David Starkey?s Music And Monarchy, a four-part series exploring the ways in which the monarchy has shaped the history of British music. Starkey will demonstrate how British musicians helped to define and perpetuate a distinctive royal identity and will uncover how much of British history is preserved within some of the nation?s best-loved music

MUMBAI: BBC Worldwide Channels has unveiled Numtums Adventures as the latest new title in production for the international CBeebies network.

Created as a result of BBC Worldwide Channels? ongoing deal with CBeebies in-house productions in the UK, Numtums Adventures continues BBC Worldwide?s commitment to invest in programmes that will encourage children around the world to learn through play.

BBC Worldwide will hold the commercial rights for the series, including global channel broadcast, distribution and merchandising.

Aimed at four to six year olds, the adventure comedy evolved from a series of five-minute learning shorts that currently air on the preschool channel in the UK and around the world to help children with their numbers.

The new series targets upper pre-schoolers by introducing story driven episodes, fast paced comedy and visual humour, and distinct voices and personalities for the Numtum characters. Using CGI, each episode sees the number-obsessed heroes use their maths and number skills to resolve problems in their quirky hometown of Gumnut Gorge.

Numtums Adventures is produced by the CBeebies in-house team and animated by A Productions in Bristol. The series will debut on CBeebies in the UK and around the world in 2013/14.

Numtums Adventures is the latest in a slate of new investments for BBC Worldwide?s international CBeebies network.

CBeebies is a multi-platform brand for preschoolers aged six years and under, which encourages children to learn through play. In the UK, CBeebies offers a mix of new and landmark, high-quality, UK-produced content to educate and entertain the BBC?s youngest audiences in a consistently safe environment.

The international CBeebies channel is wholly-owned by BBC Worldwide and is available in the following territories: Pan Asia, Australia, Pan Latin America & the US Hispanic market, Poland, South Africa and the Nordic region.

MUMBAI: UK pubcaster The BBC?s controller of drama Ben Stephenson will take centre stage at the television trade event MipTV to throw light on the behind-the-scenes magic at the heart of the commissioner/producer creative alliance, during a Creative Talk on 9 April. Stephenson will also present the opening speech at MipTV?s second annual Drama Co-Production Summit on 8 April.

Organised by Reed Midem, MipTV 2013 will take place in Cannes, France from 8-11 April 2013.

Appointed Controller of Drama Commissioning in September 2008 and in charge of the BBC?s drama output, Stephenson has carved out a reputation for risk-taking and originality in his efforts to bring a new generation of mainstream hits to the BBC channels.

2012 marked a string of successes, with the launch of the BBC One drama series ?Call the Midwife? and BBC Two?s ?Line of Duty?. BBC Two?s Shakespeare Season received critical acclaim and Stephenson also launched BBC One?s returning series ?The Syndicate?, ?The Paradise?, ?Prisoners Wives? and ?Last Tango in Halifax?. ?Sherlock? and ?Luther?, both originally commissioned by Stephenson, will also return this year.

Stephenson is responsible for the re-emergence of drama on BBC Two, with a range of original programmes including ?The Shadow Line?, ?United?, ?Eric and Ernie?, ?The Crimson Petal and the White?, ?Murder? and ?Parade?s End?.

Forthcoming dramas include ?Dancing on the Edge?, ?The Fall?, ?Frankie?, ?Mayday?, ?Mary and Martha?, ?Peaky Blinders?, ?Top of the Lake?, ?The Village?, and ?The White Queen?.

MUMBAI: BBC Children?s and television format creator and distributor FremantleMedia Enterprises? (FME) Kids and Family Entertainment division have signed a long-term deal that will see them develop and produce a continuous sequence of new programmes designed to entertain and appeal to children of all ages.

The deal will see FME and BBC Children?s co-developing, co-producing and co-funding a number of new children?s shows over the course of the next five years, and investing tens of millions of pounds in order to fulfill the production requirements of the agreement.

The partnership brings together two players in the kids and family entertainment space in a dedicated effort to delight and inspire children in the UK and the world over.

The announcement of a strengthened and committed relationship between BBC Children?s and FME?s Kids and Family Entertainment is designed to result in the continuous creation of new programming for children.

Within the parameters of this new partnership, BBC Children?s and FME?s Kids and Family Entertainment will collaborate to create programmes for both CBBC and CBeebies.

CBBC focusses on children aged 6-12 years old and CBeebies is geared towards younger children under the age of six. Under the terms of the partnership, the BBC Children?s in-house production teams will produce the shows in conjunction with the FME Kids & Family team including Sander Schwartz, president, and Bob Higgins, executive vice president.

BBC Children?s director Joe Godwin said, "We?re delighted to be signing this new deal with FremantleMedia Enterprises and look forward to building on the success we?ve already had working together on top-rated programmes such as Tree Fu Tom. This groundbreaking partnership will allow us to create and develop even more exciting new shows that will entertain and inspire kids throughout the UK."

This partnership does not affect the first-look deal that BBC Children?s has with BBC Worldwide who continue to invest in children?s programming and also operate the CBeebies international channels. And BBC Children?s will continue to collaborate with a wide range of creative partners, broadcasters, distributors and indies (who currently produce 70 per cent of the BBC?s children?s programmes).

An immediate benefit stemming from this new partnership is the commissioning of further explorations in the enchanted kingdom of ?Treetopolis?, with the second season of ?Tree Fu Tom?. Allowing each viewer to become a superhero within this miniature fantasy world, ?Tree Fu Tom? was developed to aid children who have movement disorders and difficulties such as Dyspraxia. Continued seasons of the show are certain to both inspire and entertain pre-schoolers.

FME Kids and Family Entertainment president Sander Schwartz said, "When we started FME?s Kids and Family Entertainment division just three years ago, our goal was to join forces with leading broadcasters and producers of kids? content in order to inspire, transform, challenge and stimulate our young audiences who will grow to be the world?s next generation of leaders.

"BBC Children?s and FME?s Kids and Family division joining forces in a strategic relationship is truly an example of 1+1 = 3. The combining of strong experience and skills from both companies is sure to amplify the quality of shows that will result from this unique alliance."

FME Kids and Family Entertainment executive VP Bob Higgins said, "BBC Children?s is the top echelon in the kids and family genre and we have had phenomenal success in working with them on shows such as Wizards vs Aliens, and Tree Fu Tom".

"They are fearless in their dedication to make bold, creatively brilliant programs and we couldn?t be more excited to have the opportunity to continue working with such an amazing partner."

Extending beyond television screens, the deal will also see FME representing global ancillary rights, including merchandise, home entertainment, live events, publishing, worldwide distribution, and more. The BBC will retain television rights for the UK and Eire, as well as certain other rights within those countries.